The International Development White Paper sets out the UK's agenda to re-energise progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, including the central aim of eliminating extreme poverty. To this end, the UK aims to spend at least 50 per cent of our bilateral ODA in the Least Developed Countries.

The FCDO has developed two new programmes that will measure and assess literacy rates, among other objectives. The Scaling Access and Learning in Education programme will help transform the effectiveness of education spending in low- and lower middle-income countries and improve learning outcomes, including on literacy. The Data for Foundational Learning Programme will help track children's learning outcomes globally; generate more learning data nationally; and ensure these data are used.

We are making good progress against the Global Health Framework, which outlines the UK's work on Global Health to support a positive impact on health and wellbeing and thus life expectancy. For example, we announced £5 million of additional funding to TB Alliance to support more effective drug resistant treatment with fewer side effects and £370 million to strengthen global health security at United Nations General Assembly September 2023.

Furthermore, the FCDO is committed to improving the effectiveness of all UK aid. FCDO's Programme Operating Framework maximises the impact of aid through consideration of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity. Programmes undergo an annual review of effectiveness, using a results framework. These are published to the Development Tracker website (https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk), which further supports aid effectiveness by providing information to inform other donors spending decisions.

FCDO and likeminded education partners have come together to promote a shared commitment to improving foundational learning for all. At the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, countries and organisations were invited to endorse a Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning. This aims to build a global coalition of education partners collaborating on foundational learning. The UK is also asking the G7 and G20 to focus on foundational learning, including by prioritising more global Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education. This builds on our 2021 G7 Presidency, where we secured G7 support for two Global Objectives on girls' access and foundational learning objectives.

The FCDO prioritises foundational learning for all - basic reading, maths and socio-emotional skills. We support this through the UK Girls' Education Challenge programme, which has helped over a million girls and women make progress in education. Through our 2021 G7 Presidency we secured endorsement of two global objectives, including 20 million more girls reading by age ten by 2026. We have invested in leading research to understand how to improve learning globally. In 2022, we launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning. The UK's commitment to the Global Partnership for Education and bilateral programmes champions quality basic education.

The FCDO prioritises addressing learning poverty. This is reflected in the two Global Objectives we secured through our 2021 G7 Presidency: getting 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by age ten by 2026. In 2022 we launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning to reduce learning poverty by 50 percent by 2030. We have invested in research to understand how to tackle learning poverty in low-income countries through the RISE programme and the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel reports. We implement basic education programmes in many low-income countries including in Ethiopia and Malawi.

The FCDO has used its influence to garner global support for tackling learning poverty. In 2022, we co-published the State of Learning Poverty Update with coalition on learning partners and launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning to reduce learning poverty by 50 percent by 2030. We run basic education programmes in middle-income countries including Bangladesh, Jordan and Nigeria to address learning poverty. We have invested in leading education research including the What Works Hub for education, which supports learning between middle-income countries such as Brazil, Pakistan and Kenya to understand what works to reduce learning poverty.